Kelly/Shorts Stadium for a 1 p.m. game against Central Michigan University. It was a game that, a week ago, looked like a winner-take-all contest for...
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CMU tries to close out perfect home season against Jerry Kill-led Northern Illinois

Jerry Kill wanted his first trip back to mid-Michigan to mean a little more.

The football gods, however, thought otherwise.

The former Saginaw Valley State University coach brings his Northern Illinois football team to Kelly/Shorts Stadium for a 1 p.m. game against Central Michigan University.

It was a game that, a week ago, looked like a winner-take-all contest for the Mid-American Conference West title.

But the Huskies lost a 38-31 decision to Ohio, leaving them at 5-2 in the MAC, giving the West title to the undefeated Chippewas, who are 9-2 overall.

“We have to have short-term memory,” Kill said. “We have to go back to work to play arguably the best team in the MAC.

“It’s tough. The bottom line is that we are still trying to improve our program and get better.”

Kill has done that at every stop on the coaching ladder. In his first head-coaching job at SVSU, Kill went 38-14 in from 1994 through 1998 before moving on to Emporia State, where he was 11-11 in two years.

He took the Southern Illinois job in 2001 and built the team into a Division I-AA power, from a 1-10 record in 2001 to a 12-2 record in 2007. He was 55-32 before taking the Northern Illinois job in 2008.

Last year, Kill was 6-7, but got the Huskies into the Independence Bowl. He has Northern Illinois poised for another bowl bid this year with a 7-4 overall record, including a win over a Big Ten team in Purdue.

Still, Kill would have loved to have a MAC West title on the line Friday.

“We (Ohio and Northern Illinois ) were in the same situation going into the ballgame,” Kill said. “We knew one of us weren’t going to be happy. We were on the other end of it.

“We’ve got good football teams in our conference. Central has been very good for a lot of years. Their quarterback makes them special Dan LeFevour makes plays. They’ve got good receivers. They’re much better on defense than they were a year ago.”

Last year, CMU traveled to Northern Illinois and escaped with a 33-30 overtime win.

LeFevour, however, is finishing his senior season in style. He earned the MAC West Offensive Player-of-the-Week award for the second consecutive week after leading CMU to a 35-3 win over Ball State. LeFevour completed 25 of 28 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for 59 yards and a touchdown. He finished with 403 yards of total offense, the ninth time he has eclipsed the 400-yard mark in his career.

He became the conference’s career leader in passing yards with exactly 12,000 yards.

“You walk into a room and you wouldn’t know he’s accomplished all he’s accomplished,” CMU coach Butch Jones said. “He’s very humble and very hungry. He does a great job of elevating other people’s play around him.”

One of LeFevour’s TD passes was a 10-yarder to Bryan Anderson, who can tie the NCAA record for consecutive games with a reception if he catches a pass against Northern Illinois. Anderson has caught a pass in every game he has played in his CMU career. His streak of 50 games is one behind the record shared by Taurean Henderson of Texas Tech and Michael Larkin of Miami (Ohio).

If Anderson catches passes Friday, in the MAC Championship game and in CMU’s bowl game, it would give him 53 for his career. Northern Illinois’ loss to Ohio guarantees CMU a spot in the MAC Championship game Friday, Dec. 4, at Ford Field.

“The students and people are excited,” Jones said. “But we have another game to play. We’re going to be challenged. Northern Illinois is an extremely complete football team. If we’re not prepared going into that game, nothing good can come from it.

“It’s a very important game. It’s been a long time since we’ve won all of our home games. It’s very important for these seniors. There’s still a lot to be played for. We’re not going to alter anything. We won’t deviate from anything we’ve done the past 11 games.”

Noteworthy

• A win would give CMU its first unbeaten home record since 1998

• CMU is seventh in the country in fumbles lost with just five this season.

• LeFevour needs four TD passes to tie Chad Pennington for the MAC career record.

• LeFevour needs 430 passing yards to pass Kliff Kingsbury of Texas Tech for 12th on the NCAA career list. He is four completions behind Chase Holbrook and 11 behind Chase Daniel on the NCAA career list.

• Northern Illinois offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover and CMU coach Butch Jones coached together at Ferris state in 1997. Jones was a member of Limegrover’s wedding party. Limegrover and CMU offensive line coach Don Mahoney played against each other as high school stars in Pittsburgh.